Source: Gantz, Pnina. The Immigration, Absorption, and Integration of the Cave Dwellers from Libya into Israel, Seminar Paper, University of Haifa, 2001.
Background and Pre-Aliyah Conditions
In 1938, as Fascist Italy moved closer to Nazi Germany, the Libyan authorities - led by Governor Italo Balbo - sought to avoid openly implementing the regime’s new antisemitic policies. Seeking to maintain public order, the colonial administration refrained from disseminating the antisemitic propaganda being broadcast from Italian Radio Bari to Arab populations across the Maghreb.
That same year, Italy passed its infamous “Racial Laws”, but Governor Balbo acted to soften their enforcement in Libya. He even worked to curb local Fascist groups, including the Blackshirts, who demanded harsher treatment of Jews. Ironically, Libyan Jews often suffered more from hostile local Arab neighbors than from Fascist authorities - largely due to tensions inflamed by events in Mandatory Palestine.
Italy entered World War II in June 1940. Rome issued orders to detain Jews in Libya in internment camps, notably the Gado (Jadu) camp, about 150 km from Tripoli. However, this was only partially implemented.
A turning point came when Marshal Balbo died in a plane crash on June 28, 1940. The Blackshirts blamed the Jewish community for food hoarding and alleged espionage for Britain. Following British military gains - including the capture of Cyrenaica and its capital Benghazi - antisemitic rhetoric intensified. In response, Hitler sent the Afrika Korps, under General Erwin Rommel, to Libya. By mid-1941, the British were pushed back into Egypt.
During the reoccupation of Cyrenaica, Jews were accused of collaborating with the British. Some were arrested, beaten, or deported. Approximately 300 Jews with British citizenship were transferred to internment camps in Italy, including Civitanova del Tronto (north of Teramo), Bagno a Ripoli (near Florence), and Bassano del Grappa (north of Vicenza). In 1944, after Germany took over northern Italy, these detainees were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Pogroms and Awakening of National Consciousness
From November 5–7, 1945, some of the worst pogroms in the history of Libyan Jewry erupted. 121 Jews were murdered, many injured, synagogues were destroyed, and hundreds of homes and businesses looted. The British military intervened only on the third day. The brutality of the riots had a profound effect: Jewish-Arab relations were permanently severed, Jewish national consciousness deepened, and the desire to leave Libya grew irreversible.
In 1948, additional pogroms occurred, but this time Jews fought back, and several attackers were killed.
The Call to Zion
In April 1949, the Jews of Gharyan (the “Cave Dwellers”) received word of their pending aliyah from Mr. Baruch Duvdevani, who visited them and addressed a gathering near their synagogue. Word of his visit spread in whispers from cave to cave, as residents feared their Arab neighbors might detect their joy.
Gathering quietly, hundreds came to hear him speak:
“I come to you from Jerusalem,” he declared. “The Lord has remembered His people. Part of the Land of Israel is now under Jewish rule. We have our own state, the State of Israel - with our own government and army. Jews from all corners of the diaspora are coming home. Your time has come - your hour of redemption. Come to Tripoli, prepare yourselves, and from there, ascend to the Land of our Fathers.”
The crowd murmured “Jerusalem… the Temple…”, as three young men dressed in Arab garb began to sing Hatikvah. Many refrained from joining, still afraid of their neighbors. But during the Mincha prayer, the restrained emotions finally gave way. The congregants broke into tears of uncontainable joy.
The Journey to Israel
In August 1949, the aliyah of the Cave Dwellers commenced and continued through November 1950. They chose to ascend together as a community, aided by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). The JDC committed to transporting them to Tripoli, providing housing in the Jewish quarter, medical care, clothing, and food.
Because of logistical challenges and external limitations, the community was evacuated in scheduled stages, rather than as a single unit. The majority made direct aliyah to Israel, aboard ships such as Hatzmaut, Herzl, Eilat, Kedma, Galila, and Jerusalem. Only a few were delayed, usually due to property sales or difficulties related to the “exit tax.”
Between 1950–1951, over 30,000 Libyan Jews made aliyah to Israel. Among them were the Cave Dwellers of Gharyan, who left behind their underground homes, traditions, and centuries of isolation - stepping into a new life in the young State of Israel.